It is heartening that National Assessment and Accreditation Council (naac) has brought in new spirit into its process of assessment and accreditation

Table 1: Distribution of Metrics and KIs across Criteria

Type of HEIs	Universities	Autonomous Colleges	Affiliated/Constituent Colleges
Criteria	7	7	7
Key Indicators (KIs)	34	34	32
Qualitative Metrics (QlM)	38	38	41
Quantitative Metrics (QnM)	99	98	80
Total Metrics (QlM + QnM)	137	136	121

Table 2 gives the details of weightage given to the various Key Indicators and Criteria. In view of the variations in the institutional emphasis on the KIs among the three categories of HEIs, weightages have been appropriately demarcated. Each metric is designated a weightage which is indicated elsewhere in this Manual.
Table 2 Distribution of weightages across Key Indicators (KIs)

Criteria	Key Indicators (KIs)	Universities	Autonomous Colleges	Affiliated/Constituent Colleges
1. Curricular Aspects	1.1 *(U)Curriculum Design and Development	50	50	NA
	1.1. *(A) Curricular Planning and Implementation	NA	NA	20
	1.2 Academic Flexibility	50	40	30
	1.3 Curriculum Enrichment	30	40	30
	1.4 Feedback System	20	20	20
	Total	150	150	100
2. Teaching- Learning and Evaluation	2.1 Student Enrolment and Profile	10	20	30
	2.2 Catering to Student Diversity	20	30	50
	2.3 Teaching-Learning Process	20	50	50
	2.4 Teacher Profile and Quality	50	60	80
	2.5 Evaluation Process and Reforms	40	40	50
	2.6 Student Performance and Learning Outcomes	30	50	40
	2.7 Student satisfaction Survey	30	50	50
	Total	200	300	350
3. Research, Innovations and Extension	3.1 Promotion of Research and Facilities	20	20	NA
	3.2 Resource Mobilization for Research	20	10	10
	3.3 Innovation Ecosystem	30	20	10
	3.4 Research Publications and Awards	100	20	20
	3.5 Consultancy	20	10	NA
	3.6 Extension Activities	40	50	60
	3.7 Collaboration	20	20	20
	Total	250	150	120
4. Infrastructure and Learning Resources	4.1 Physical Facilities	30	30	30
	4.2 Library as a Learning Resource	20	20	20
	4.3 IT Infrastructure	30	30	30
	4.4 Maintenance of Campus Infrastructure	20	20	20
	Total	100	100	100
5. Student Support and Progression	5.1 Student Support	30	30	50
	5.2 Student Progression	40	30	45
	5.3 Student Participation and Activities	20	30	25
	5.4 Alumni Engagement	10	10	10
	Total	100	100	130
6. Governance, Leadership and Management	6.1 Institutional Vision and Leadership	10	10	10
	6.2 Strategy Development and Deployment	10	10	10
	6.3 Faculty Empowerment Strategies	30	30	30
	6.4 Financial Management and Resource Mobilization	20	20	20
	6.5 Internal Quality Assurance System	30	30	30
	Total	100	100	100
7. Institutional Values and Best Practices	7.1 Institutional Values and Social Responsibilities	50	50	50
	7.2 Best Practices	30	30	30
	7.3 Institutional Distinctiveness	20	20	20
	Total	100	100	100
	TOTAL SCORE	1000 *	1000 *	1000 *

* In case of HEIs who exercise to opt for the weightage of ≤5% of Non Applicable Metrics, the total score will vary accordingly.

(U) - applicable only for Universities and Autonomous Colleges
(A) - applicable only for the Affiliated / Constituent Colleges

NA - Not Applicable

VI. PROCEDURAL DETAILS

HEIs are expected to read the below given details carefully and note the specifications of the revised process of A&A.

1. 
   Eligible HEIs seeking A&A are required to submit Institutional Information for Quality Assessment (IIQA) online any time during the year starting from June-2018. Duly filled in IIQAs of eligible HEIs will be accepted by NAAC for further processing and others will be rejected.
   

2. 
   In case of rejection of IIQA applications specific suggestions would be given to HEIs to facilitate them to resubmit IIQA. An institution can reapply twice after the first attempt resulted in rejection. That is, each HEI is permitted three attempts in a year, with a single fee. After this, it will be considered a fresh application with required fees.
   
3. 
   After the acceptance of IIQA, the institution will be asked to fill the SSR with the required document to be uploaded in the portal of NAAC website within 30 days. The SSR of the HEI will then be subjected to further process. As preparation of SSR is a systematic process, so it is suggested that the HEIs should be ready with soft copy of SSR and related documents well in advance of submitting IIQA. Those institutions who fail to submit SSR within 30 days will have to apply afresh starting from IIQA & its fees. In any case fees for IIQA will not be refundable.
   
4. 
   The SSR has to be uploaded as per the format in portal of NAAC. After submission of SSR on NAAC portal HEI would receive an auto generated link/ID of SSR in their registered email id. The same SSR in .pdf format should be then uploaded on institutional website.
   
5. 
   The SSR has to be submitted only online. HEIs should make necessary preparations with the required data, documents and/or responses before logging on to the NAAC website for submission of SSR online. Careful study of the Manual will be of great help in this regard.
   
6. 
   As indicated earlier, the SSR comprises both Qualitative and Quantitative metrics. The Quantitative Metrics (Q_nM) add up to about 70% and the remaining about 30% are Qualitative Metrics (Q_lM).
   
7. 
   Optional Metrics: In these diversified education system, there can be few metrics which may not be applicable to the HEI’s. Thus in order to facilitate the HEI’s NAAC has come out with this concept of Non Applicable Metrics.
   

Thus the provision is made for the HEI’s to opt out some of the metrics which may not be applicable to them for various reasons. Following are the rules for opting out non applicable metrics:

a) Maximum weightage of metrics that can be opted out shouldn’t exceed 50 (up to 5%).

b) Metrics with maximum of total 20 weightage per criteria can only be opted out.

c) All metrics in Criterion 7 are essential. None of the metrics in this Criterion can be opted out.

d) Metrics identified as essential cannot be opted out (list of essential metrics are stated in Appendices 3, 4 & 5).

e) Qualitative metrics cannot be opted out.

The essential metrics across 6 criteria have been identified for Universities (Appendix 3) Affiliated/constituent colleges (Appendix 4) and Autonomous Colleges (Appendix 5) which cannot be opted out. The calculation of Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) will be done excluding the metrics as opted out with 50 weightage (up to 5%) by the HEIs. This decision is aimed at helping HEIs, as they will not be assessed on metrics not applicable to them. HEIs willing to opt out the non applicable metrics need to exercise the same, prior to final submission of SSR to NAAC.

2. 
   The data submitted on Quantitative Metrics (Q_nM) will be subjected to validation exercise with the help of Data Validation and Verification (DVV) process done by NAAC. The responses to Qualitative Metrics (Q_lM) will be reviewed by the Peer Team on site only after the institution clears the Pre-qualifier stage.
   
3. 
   Any Institution found to be providing wrong information/data during validation and verification stage will be asked for clarifications. On the basis of clarifications submitted by the HEIs the data will be again sent for DVV process. The process of Data Validation and Verification (DVV) by NAAC will be done in not more than 30 days.
   
4. 
   Pre-qualifier: The Quantitative Metrics (Q_nM) of SSR will be sent for Data Validation and Verification (DVV) Process. After DVV process, a DVV Deviation report will be generated. On the basis of the Deviation report, the A&A process will proceed further as per the following conditions:
   

1. 
   HEI whose Metrics are found to be deviated will be liable for the penalty or legal action. Their first installment of accreditation fees will also be forfeited, and the name of such HEI will be sent to statutory authorities for further actions.
   
2. 
   HEI that clears the DVV process will proceed for Peer Team Visit with a condition of a Pre-qualifier, that the HEI should score at least 30% in Quantitative Metrics (Q_nM) as per the final score after the DVV Process. If the HEI does not clear the Pre-qualifier stage then they will have to apply afresh by submitting the IIQA and its fees. Such HEIs are eligible to apply again only after six months from the day of declaration of Pre-qualification status.
   

2. 
   After the DVV process, NAAC will intimate the HEI, within 10 days stating that they have successfully cleared the Pre-qualifier. This indicates that the institution has entered the next round of assessment to be done by the Peer Team during their on-site visit. The focus of Peer Team visit will be on the 30% Qualitative Metrics (Q_lM).
   
3. 
   Student Satisfaction Survey (SSS): It will be conducted as per the following conditions:
   

1. 
   SSS will be conducted simultaneously with DVV process.
   
2. 
   Institutions will have to submit the entire database of students with e-mail/mobile numbers, at the time of filling of online SSR itself.
   
3. 
   The SSS questionnaire (20 objective & 01 subjective) will be e-mailed to all students and the following rule will be applied for processing the responses.
   

1. 
   For colleges – (UG/PG and Autonomous) responses should be received from at least 10% of the student population or 100, whichever is lesser.
   
2. 
   For Universities – 10% of the student population or 500, whichever is lesser.
   

4. 
   If the response rate is lower than the limits mentioned by NAAC, the metric will not be taken up for evaluation.
   
5. 
   SSS will be completed within one month after its initiation.
   

2. 
   Peer Team visit of the institution should not exceed three months after clearance of Pre-qualifier stage.
   
3. 
   Based on the size and scope of academic offerings at the HEIs, the number of days and experts for onsite visit may vary from 2-3 days with 2-5 expert reviewers visiting the institutions. The visiting teams’ role would be very specific in the revised model limited to Qualitative Metrics (Q_lM). The teams would play an important role in reviewing the intangible aspects.
   
4. 
   Unlike in the past NAAC will not pre-disclose the details of the visiting teams and HEIs will not be responsible for Logistics for the Visiting Teams. Hence forth NAAC will directly take care of all the logistics regarding the Peer Teams visiting the institutions. All payment towards TA, DA, Honorarium, etc., will be directly paid by NAAC to the nominated members. There would be no financial transactions between the Institution and the visiting NAAC team.
   
5. 
   The institutions need to add a link in home page of their institutional website for NAAC records/files viz., SSR, Peer Team Report, AQAR, Certificate of NAAC and Accreditation documents etc., for easy access by its stakeholders. The said link should be clearly visible/ highlighted.
   
6. 
   Guidelines for filling up Self-Study Report (SSR):
   

• 
  Extended profile contains all the questions which are basically the figures of denominators of the formulas used for calculation of various Metrics values.
  
• 
  There are Tool Tips at various places in portal, such as Metrics, sub-metrics, upload, etc. which are given as guidance regarding the sort of data required to be submitted by the institution. The Tool Tip is denoted in the form of. Institutions are required to go through the respective Tool Tip thoroughly before filling the data.
  
• 
  The data filled should contextualize with the related metrics. There is an upload limits for the documents to be uploaded for various Metrics, if the size of the document exceeds that limit, Institution may upload the same in their own website with password protection, if required. The link of the said uploaded document should be given in the portal.
  
• 
  The data of the students for Student Satisfaction Survey (SSS) has to be submitted concurrently during online submission of SSR.
  
• 
  Where-so-ever ‘Asterisk Red mark’ is indicated in the portal it should be understood as mandatory requirement.
  

2. 
   Policy to withdraw Accreditation applications by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) : HEIs which have submitted their Self Study Reports (SSRs) for any reason does not complete the A&A process: -
   

• 
  Will be allowed to apply for A&A only after a period of one year from the date of submission
  

of SSR.

• 
  Will host the information that it has withdrawn / not completed the process on the HEI website
  

and the information will be hosted on NAAC website too.

• 
  The fees submitted by HEI for Assessment and Accreditation process so far will be forfeited.
  

2. 
   Non-compliance of DVV Process: Institutions are given 15 days time to complete the DVV process, and are supposed to respond within stipulated time during DVV clarification stage. In unforeseen situations (such as natural calamities, political disturbances and alike) when the institutions fail to comply with the DVV process, a further extension of 7 days shall be granted on the basis of decision from Competent Authority. If even beyond the extension, the institution does not comply the DVV clarification process, the assessment and accreditation of such institutions can be terminated at the level of DVV clarification.  The institution will forfeit the fees paid for IIQA and SSR 1st installment.  Such institutions shall reapply for accreditation after one year of cooling period by submission of IIQA and filling SSR afresh.
   

VII. ASSESSMENT OUTCOME
The final result of the Assessment and Accreditation exercise will be an ICT based score, which is a combination of evaluation of qualitative and quantitative metrics. This will be compiled as a document comprising three parts.